Bobcat, Desert Photo Retreat, Arizona.

The little bobcat came in for one last visit right before we left Arizona – I sure hope they are there again next year!

Western Screech Owl, Desert Photo Retreat, Arizona.

We are all packed up and ready to catch a flight home to Alaska in the morning.  Excited to be home, but sad to be missing all the wildlife in Arizona!  Nice problem to have.

Javelina, Desert Photo Retreat, Arizona.

Second night in row were we had bobcat, fox, javelina and owls!  I’m excited to be getting back home to Alaska, but I’m going to miss all the activity here in Arizona!

Bobcat, Desert Photo Retreat, near Tucson, Arizona.

Last night I got my own bobcat!!!  He hung out at the water hole for almost 15 minutes, so I have a lot of photos of this cute little guy.  It was another great night at the waterhole, bobcat, skunks, owls gray fox and javelina!

Bobcat, Desert Photo Retreat, Arizona. Photo by Joe McDonald.

All photos by Joe McDonald.

It was great to have Joe and Mary Ann McDonald visit us this week at the Desert Photo Retreat.  When it comes to camera trapping, I have learned so much from Joe thanks to his book Understanding High Speed Flash and Triggering Systems.  It is $20 well spent as it will vastly speed up the learning curve.  If you have any interest in camera trapping, it is a must have.  You can find a link on their website.  So it was great fun having them out to the property, and seeing Joe set up two cameras for the night at my two water holes.   Between Joe and Bruce Taubert, I have now had the chance to learn from two of the best camera trappers in the business, who both have been doing this for a long time!

So these photos are all images Joe captured here in just one night.  He was more than gracious in sharing the photos to help promote our property which I appreciate!   It was great to have him here, but it was also great to have the Desert Photo Retreat really deliver.  Two bobcat visits, many gray fox, screech owl, and two skunks!  From my trail cam, I could see the bobcat show up, and then quickly run off.  I thought the camera  / flash spooked it.  It wasn’t until we downloaded Joe’s images and looked close that we realized the cat caught a mouse!  Check out the cloud of dust.  It was also a treat to have the bobcat return and pose so nicely!  Check out more images below.

As a final note, Joe also shared a copy of his beautiful new book Gorillas In The Wild, A Visual Essay.    It is full of beautiful photos – it has to be the most comprehensive coverage of gorillas to date.  Check it out.
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Gray fox, Desert Photo Retreat, Arizona.

The fox under the stars last night – with the approaching new moon, I can go for these starry skies again.

This time I used a 14mm Rokinon at f/2.8 and ISO 4,000 and 4 seconds. I would have loved to gone to 20 seconds, but if I had a taller animal who was juxtaposed against the sky I would have had a ghost image, so played it safe at 4 seconds. The exposure time has no effect on the fox, only the sky.

Western Tanager, Desert Photo Retreat, Arizona.

A western tanager from this morning – such a colorful bird!